Meda didn't move from the table even as the rest of the team went out back to talk to Thena. Ajak couldn't be dead. The Eternals had been fighting deviants on Earth for 7000 years and not once had Meda thought that one of them wouldn't be going home. Ajak was like a mother to the whole team, someone who guided them, healed them, and held them together. Ajak had helped her through some of her lowest points during the mission.
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THEN
The rain was coming down, drenching Meda as she trudged up the muddy path leading to the secluded house. Standing in front of the door she took a few deep breaths before raising her fist and banging on the door. The door swung open revealing a warm interior and an even warmer face. Ajak looked at her with such joy that Meda almost broke down right then, but she was on a mission.
"I needed you and you weren't there Ajak." The smile fell from her face.
"Meda..."
"No, you can't just say something and make this right. I watched millions die when we could have saved them."
"I warned you about getting too involved, Meda."
"30 years! 30 years of war and I'm just supposed to have stood by while they killed each other over what? Religion? Land? It's all pointless and they could live peacefully if they wanted to. I watched millions die. You took the easy road out, moving across the world so you didn't have to watch, but I couldn't. I can't anymore. I am tired of Earth. These people. I am tired of being caught up in their lives that they are just throwing away. I want to go home to Olympia."
With that, the look on Ajak's face softened. She reached out to wrap Meda in a tight hug, ushering her into the cottage. Meda sat crying into Ajak's shoulder for what felt like forever, getting all of her rage and frustration out.
"Things used to be easier. Their problems used to have simple solutions. Sometimes I think they evolved wrong. Maybe we shouldn't have helped them evolve at all. Maybe then they would have had to work together to make these advancements and they would be living peacefully," Meda said, wiping the few stray tears from her cheek.
"This world may have been easier when it was all black and white, but it's so much more beautiful now with all of it's different colors. Don't you agree?" Meda refused to meet Ajak's eye. After a moment Ajak grabbed Meda's chin and gently turned her face towards her. "Consider this. Yes some of them do terrible things but some of them paint pictures and create music. They dance and they sing. They wipe away tears and help their neighbours. There is more good in them than you know. You just need to search for it."
"The longer we're here the worse it gets Ajak. When are we going home?"
"Give it time my dear. We are not yet finished with our mission."
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NOW
"I don't even remember the last thing I said to her." Meda was jolted from her memories by Sersi sitting down next to her. She didn't mention the tear still dripping down Meda's face but took her hand in hers and held on tight. "Funnily enough I don't remember the last time we talked either, Gilgamesh and Thena seem to be the only ones who hear from you and even they say you don't visit often."
"I've done a lot of moving around. You and Ajak seemed to have a lot of faith in this world that I could never see. I have searched for what you've loved about this place all across the globe, but it's no use everywhere I look people are the same. I've grown accustomed to being alone, it's just easier that way."
Sersi glanced at Meda with a look of pity.
"You know it's a lot easier to appreciate the world with someone by your side. Did you ever see Druig after he left?"
Meda removed her hand from Sersi with a quick pull.
"Once or twice. For someone who could never handle the darker side of humanity he sure pulled a lot of the same crap. He turned his back on us and I've never forgiven him for that."
"Did you at least talk about it when you saw him?"
"Of course not, just because he can read minds he expects others to be able to read his. He's too proud to say the words. Every time I've seen him he's just tried to brush it under the rug. I always think that maybe I'll get over it but any more than a few days in that utopian hideaway that he's created for himself and I get too angry."
Just then Kingo spoke from behind them.
"I hate to interrupt this little tête-à-tête but Gilgamesh has food on the table and you're not going to want to miss it."
Meda grabbed his outstretched hand and hoisted herself up from the floor, appreciating that he kept his arm around her as the trio walked back towards the house.
